The AAA aspect is important to that quote because it involves stopping the player frequently to show them a cutscene that only services the plot (which is garbage.) Only at the beginning and end did LoI stop to barrage the player with cutscenes.
Fair enough. personally i don't mind cutscenes, and I enjoyed the more story heavy take. I'm a story guy. i DO dislike hand holding one,s such as when you enter the area and it pans the camera to the objective, although in some cases it can be excused as cinematic camera-ing.
There is something less offensive about taking yourself serious plot-wise in some small text bubbles and taking yourself seriously in a multi-minute cutscene. I find the latter far more obnoxious. ... It's when cutscenes get involved that it kills me. I found CoD and LoI cheesy as heck though so they're more enjoyable than LoS in that sense. Some sort of Evil Dead vibe there.
I actually find that the fact that LoS takes itself so damn seriously, is part of the fun. It becomes melodramatic and slightly cheesy like a Shakespeare play.
Also, I hate Dawn's story as it ruins just about every character from AoS...which is pretty impressive.
A-fucking-men to that. Dawn has no fucking reason to exist, and could have been instead, that 1999 game. (or just a more original Aria sequel. The novel seemed to do it right, which ironically came AFTER dawn- aside from the fact that Soma is just a cameo when Death asks him one last time to be Dracula, the main antagonist is not anything to do with Dracula's power or whatever the fuck they were going for in Dawn. It was literally the power struggle left by the void caused by Dracula's demise.)
Yup, it sucks. I can't even play through LoI anymore. It's awful. Fantastic soundtrack though, Jesus!
Can't argue that. One of the better CV soundtracks. I should really replay LoI one of these days. I don't recall if I ever beat Joachim mode...
No crap it's my opinion. I've seen monster designs like that in a lot of places before so I found it unoriginal.
The comparison I see get brought up alot is Van Hellsing. I'm ok with that though, since I felt Van Helsing felt a lot like a Castlevania movie itself. perhaps more than LoS does. (The Game based on the movie even namedrops the Belmonts in some book on a shelf)
His design was pretty good. I found that boss battle disappointing though. I was thinking about the LoI boss battle as a comparison and that felt a bit more awesome. You were in some hell dimension and his moves were way more fantastical. As opposed to LoS which took place in a satanist church and had him possess statues and swing his scythe around. Design good. Game design bad.
Well LoI Death was also the final boss. that's hardly an excuse though, considering Zobek is the next to last boss. His fight was easy. i was disappointed he didn't do more with his Scythe. I mean, that last segment where he creates a scythe barrier was cool, I would have liked to see more creative usage of his scythe.
I don't suppose you won't take the hopping vampire from OoE as an answer, will you?
Stretching it a bit. They blur the line between zombie and vampire. And are mostly there to fill the mythological niche. I mean Vampires like Dracula himself. (though obviously not as powerful) just random people turned and serving him. CV64 got it right in that regard.
No it didn't. Berserk did and Devil May Cry refined it to a point. They defined the genre and GoW and Ninja Gaiden both took it in interesting directions. Also, yes I did play LoI and if you bring it up again I'll kill you and the night!
heh.
Still, Im tired of the GoW comparison. all because GoW popularized it, doesn't make it any less true that LoS 1 plays similarly to LoI in regards to it's fighting mechanics being centered around dodging and perfect blocking, as well as light and heavy attacks.
It predates GoW by 2 years.
that it does. which is why I mentioned it. Lots of people are quick to call LoS a GoW knockoff and act like it invented the genre, when games like LoI predate it, and seem to be bigger influences on LoS than GoW.
Except for the part where it's a classless and loveless version of that game crudely shoved into multiple boss-fights.
There's only 3 big Collosus fights in the game. 1 per area. i thought they were alright, and fairly ramped up in difficulty. they were well presented too.
It improved on and changed the formula by having RPG mechanics and various other layers that Metroid never received because Nintendo didn't know what the hell to do with it. They still don't.
keep in mind that obtaining power ups? was considered an RPG element back in it's day. it's the reason Mega Man X features things like heart tanks and Armor parts. To introduce an RPG mechanic that makes you feel stronger as you progress in the game.
Metroid doesnt need a level up system. SoTN took Super Metroid though, and added an RPG level up system, along with another very RPGesque idea of different equipment and items. that doesn't change the fact that it is heavily derivative of Super Metroid.
The scene in LoS2 where Dracul thrusts his arm up and forms a dark energy fist (looks exactly like bayonetta) and punches and rips out the heart of the gorgon boss. It was weird, made no sense for the character, and only happened once.
Oh right that part. To be honest i never associated it with bayonetta. I can see how you would though. But since he's all about being the Dragon and all that, I just assumed it was something to do with that.
You're not a very nice guy. Did I offend you because I disagree with your sensibilities in video game design?
I meant no offense, I just severely disagree on "good RPG mechanics". Most of them just reuse the same shit from SoTN and tack on gimmicky gimmicks and call it a day. I wouldnt call the DS games Solid really. (except maybe OoE) In comparison to MoF though? Eeeh, the argument could be made I suppose.
DoS, PoR, OoE, HoD, CotM, AoS. Least replayable to most replayable.
we just differ on this I guess. I suppose it's more to do with liking the game. I disliked DoS despite the game being Aria 2.0 (Now with more grinding!) and the DS games in general. I might occasionally go back to fuck around, but I never bother to get 100% completion. I mostly revist the classicvanias.
I don't like revisiting SotN because i don't think it's as good as CotM and AoS and I've played it through 2 or 3 times. I did want to play through it again on the DXC version.
I occasionally revisit SotN probably most out of the metroidvanias. I just cant get enough of the visuals and music and smooth as fuck everything.
I tried the demo on PS3 and the framerate still had major spikes and drops. Wasn't interesting in playing it again anyways.
oh well. Im waiting for the PC version to test it. I played the 360 demo ages ago, dont remember it. i remember it being stiff though.
I think the Lords of Shadow games are terrible in the way that Dante's Inferno was. That DmC was. That Remember Me was.
Can't speak for Dante's inferno- Though I hear DMC actually plays pretty well, controversy aside. And ive played Remember Me. It was a promising idea. But it was just marred by overly linear gameplay which would be fine- if it didnt try and mask it as an open world, and then make you shimmy up specific sections when you should be able to shimmy up any. The art and sound direction were fucking fantastic though. Which makes it all the sadder. The devs had to sell the IP to Capcom for them to publish it, and then they went out of business. Sad. Also, Dat nilin ass. Yknow how all of LoS2's budget went into Carmilla's boobs? well ditto Nilin's ass.
I don't have any shits to give a game that is overly self-indulgent with cutscenes about it's terrible plot.
preferences I guess. I dont mind cutscenes, I dont even mind a bad plot on occasion. LoS2 just has a terrible ending, I feel the plot leading up to it was alright. But it's when you reach the last acolyte that the story gives up.
I hope you enjoyed my thorough rebuttal as you apparently think my opinion is a point of debatable fact. I hope my reasoning for what I like has pleased you. Maybe you should chill and enjoy this Top 8 Castlevania Moments video. It's funny or something.
Dont think I hate you or something. I just felt the need to dig deeper